Manually positionable automatic printer

ABSTRACT

A printing mechanism is mounted within a hand positionable housing. Relative motion between the printing mechanism and the medium on which printing is to be performed is sensed. A control device responds to these movement indicating signals to generate command signals for appropriately actuating the printing mechanism.

United States Patent [1 1 Rowe [ MANUALLY POSITIONABLE AUTOMATIC PRINTER[75] Inventor: Thomas H. Rowe, Boca Raton, Fla.

[73] Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, N.Y.

[ 1 Oct. 23, 1973 3,108,534 10/1963 Preisinger 101/93 3,168,182 2/1965Bernard et a1 197/55 3,202,404 2/1966 Jones l 197/49 3,283,871 11/1966Becking et al. 197/20 3,504,622 4/1970 Morrison 101/99 PrimaryExaminerEdgar S. Burr Att0rneyEarl C. Hancock et a1.

[5 7] ABSTRACT 4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures 22 Filed: Ju1y2, 1971 [21]Appl. No.: 159,309

52 us. Cl. 197/1 R, 101/93 c 511 1111. C1 B4lj 3/02 [58] Field of Search197/2, 1; 101/99, 101/93 c [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS3,042,174 7/1962 Howard 197/2 3,049,992 8/1962 Brown et a1. 101/99REMOTE SIGNAL SOURCE 2 CONTROL N LOGIC 21 20 6 l D 16 T G R X R R A l OT V R E E CPU 3 E s R E 8 15 l7 T 25 POWER SUPPLY mmnnocm-mn 9.767.020sum 1 or 2 REMOTE SIGNAL) SOURCE L [C CONTROLN 14 LOGIC 16 T R 2 4 O P Ro T v f R s E E cpuaE s R W e 3 VJ? wswsvgwawzm I 15 17 22 flpowsR 25SUPPLY INVENTOR FIG 2 THOMAS H. ROWE BY 50,! c [An/Z ATTORNEY 1 MANUALLYPOSITIONABLE AUTOMATIC PRINTER CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONApplication Ser. No. 84,026 entitled Printer Control withMonodirectional and Bidirectional Printing Compatibility by J. H.McCarthy filed Oct. 26, 1970, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,708,050, and assignedto the same assignee as this application describes data processingequipment adaptable for use as a control device in conjunction with thepresent invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This inventionrelates to a hand positionable printer for printing upon a recordingmedium in response to print command signals from a remote signal source.More particularly, this invention relates to a manually positionableprinter adaptable to provide a printout from a computer, data processingequipment or signal producing device wherein printing can be performedupon a wide variety of mediums. Wire matrix print mechanisms areparticularly well suited for'use as the printing element for printers inaccordance with this invention.

2. Description of the Prior Art Commonly available printers generateprinting either by actuating an entire line of print elements at a timein the so-called line-printing operation or compose lines by seriallyprinting one or some portion of a character at a time in a mannersomewhat similar to the operation of a typewriter. The novel printer ofthe invention is particularly well suited for use as a serial wirematrix printer, but the scope of application of the invention is not solimited.

Serial printers are printers which have either a single print element ora lesser number of print elements than is necessary to print an entireline simultaneously. Typically, a suitable print element is moved aspecified distance in a horizontal direction across the surface of apaper sheet or web of other recording medium and is actuatedperiodically to effect printing at a plurality of locations during itstravel. Serial printers generally either print an entire character at atime for each actuation of a controllably movable print element oreffect printing by composing a character through the selective actuationof a multiplicity of wires so that each character is formed by acomposition of dots, bars, or

the like.

Both line and serial printers presently require paper storage andtransport mechanisms to store and feed paper through the printer and toaccurately position the paper web relative to the path of the printelement,

' defined by its print carriage. Furthermore, transport and carriagecontrols are in turn made necessary for determining margins andotherwise coordinating paper and print element movements.

As a result, present day printers are restricted as to format, size, andthickness of the paper or other medium upon which'printing can takeplace under control of a data processor or other remote print signalsource. For example, such prior art printers could not be used forprinting information under processor control upon shipping cartons,mailing envelopes, manufactured articles, bank passbooks, inventorycontrol cards, travel tickets or on the surface of other media whichfail to conform to the rigid format requirements associated with thepaper feed and control mechanisms of the available printers. Moreover,such paper feed and control mechanisms in turn necessitate complexcontrol circuitry and render such prior art printers both bulky andexpensive.

Prior art hand printers have generally been manually controlled deviceswhich are not adaptable for use for printout purposes with dataprocessor type equipment. However, one hand-held marking device of thetype used in supermarkets or the like is shown in U.S. Pat. No.3,504,622 by Morrison wherein the marking wheels of the device arerotatably set under computer control before the device is applied to thesurface of a medium. Although possibly well suited for its intendedusage, such a device is too inflexible for many of the printingapplications contemplated herein since, inter alia, the marking wheelsdo not print immediately on receiving signals from the computer nor canthe device print a new selection of symbols while it remains inoperative registration or contact with the surface of the medium. Forinstance, any attempt to use such a device with a five-wheel printingelement for a serial printer ro print a BO-character line would involvesix successive and repeated operating sequences of raising the devicefrom the medium surface, resetting the wheels under computer control,and then manually realigning and applying the device to themediumsurface. Such printing would be discontinuous anddisadvantageously time-consuming thus rendering it unacceptable for dataprocessing printout purposes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention recognizes that there arenumerous applications where printing under processor control isdesirable, but where web transport mechanisms and carriage controls areeither unnecessary or even wholly incompatible with the recording mediumupon which printing is desired. It is therefore a realization of thepresent invention that adequate positioning of a printing elementrelative to the surface of a recording medium of unrestricted format canbe accomplished by hand.

The present invention seeks broadlyand generally to provide a printerwhich can be hand-guided and manually positioned to print uponthesurface of almost any desired medium, free of any paper handlingmechanisms and their associated controls, in response-tosig nals from aremote signal source.

' It is an object of the invention to provide a handpositionable serialprinter capable of printing one or more lines of desirably spacedcharacters while in continuous operative contact with the medium surfaceduring continuous relative motion between the printer and the mediumsurface.

A further object of the invention is to provide a handheld printer whichresists skew thereof relative to the surface of the recording mediumduring printing of a line of any desired length.

These and other objects can be attained by utilizing the presentinvention. In its broadest present comprehended scope, the presentinvention provides a hand positionable printer for printing symbols upona surface of a recording medium employing a housing adapted forhand-positioning and relative movement thereof with respect to a surfaceof the medium, a printing means carried by that housing and actuable byprint command signals from a remote signal source to immediately printupon the medium surface while the printer is in proximity therewith, andcontrol means carried by the housing for selectively enabling the signalsource to transmit a print command signal upon manual displacementbetween the printer and medium surface.

According to a preferred aspect of the invention, the control meanscomprises sensing means for sensing the displacement of the printerrelative to the surface of the medium, and emitter means responsive tothe sensing means for generating enabling signals timed in synchronismwith predetermined displacements of the printer. over the surface of themedium, these enabling signals being transmitted to a remote signalsource for enabling the signal source as aforesaid. Expediently, thesensing means may comprise a roller adapted to frictionally engage thesurface of the medium, while the emitter means may comprise a rotatabledisk having apertures therein with the disk being driven by the roller,a light source positioned to transmit light through each of theapertures sequentially during rotation of the disc, a photoelectricdevice positioned for exposure to light passing through the apertures asaforesaid and to transmit the enabling signals on exposure 'to thelight.

According to a further aspect of the invention, the hand-held printer isprovided with alignment means for preventing skew oflthe printer duringhand-guiding movement thereof along a selected linear path over thesurface of the medium. Where the sensing means comprises a frictionalroller, such a roller may serve both for sensing. displacement'and as asuitable alignment means as well.

I According to another aspect of the invention, the hand-held printer isprovided with switch means for selectively preventing transmission ofenabling signals to the remote signal source.

For a better understanding of these and other aspects of the presentinvention, as well as its operation and other advantages, objects andfeatures, reference may be made to the following detailed description ofpreferred embodiments of the invention, taken in conjunction with theappended drawings. I I

BRIEFDESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. liisa simplified perspective viewof the exterior of one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevation,,partly schematic, partly diagrammatic, andpartly in section, of the interior of the embodiment of FIG. 1.

FIG. 2a is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 2, showing in greaterdetail the cooperation of one wire with the inking ribbon and recordingmedium.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view, partly in section, of aportion of the hand-held printer of FIG.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In the embodiment of FIG. 1, a novel handpositionable printer, generally indicated at P, is shown in a typicaloperation of printing symbols 1 upon a surface of a recording medium 2in accordance with print command signals transmitted from remote signalsource S via flexible cable C to printing means described hereinaftercarried by housing 3 of printer P. Printer P and its housing 3 arepreferably of small size andweight to permit ease of manipulation byoperators hand H and are shown as adapted for hand-guided movement overthe surface of medium 2 during printing thereon. It should be noted,however, that printer P could likewise be held in position and medium 2moves to cause appropriate relative motion as will be understood bythose having normal skill in the art.

To operate printer P, housing 3 is gripped by hand H, located andaligned upon the surface of medium 2 at the left end of a selectedlinear print path, and is then moved to the right. During this motion,control means (not shown in FIG. 1 carried within the housing regu' latethe timing of print command signal transmissions from source S inaccordance with the displacement of printer P, to thereby ensure thatsymbols 1 are printed with uniform spacing despite variations in speedof printer movement across medium 2.

To prevent printing during positioning of printer P, a switch 4 locatedon the exterior of housing 3 may be used to selectively permittransmission of print command signals by remote signal source S.Alignment means in the form of rollers 5a, 5b, which have surfaces forfrictionally engaging the surface of medium 2, may be employed toprevent skew ofprinter P away from the selected linear print path duringprinting.

Roller 6, whose lower surface is spaced above those of rollers 5aand 5band beyondtheir ends, isused as an alignment means for preventing skewduring movement of printer P from a first selected linear print path toa second path in spaced parallel relationship with the first path. Forexample, roller 6 may be utilized in mov ing from the addressee line toan address line by tilting housing 3 into contact of roller 6 and medium2, then rolling-the printer upward or. downward on roller 6 to apositioncorresponding to the address line, and finally. rolling printerP to the left on rollers 5a, 5b in prepara tion for anotherprinting-operation.

While recording medium 2'is illustrated as a paper mailing envelope, itshould be understood that the novel printer P imposes almost norequirements as to the dimensions, physical disposition, or propertiesof medium 2. It may, for example, be a page .of a bank passbook, asurface of a manufactured article or of a shipping carton, an airlineticket, or any other medium whose surface is capable of receiving themark of the printing path. When a selected coil is energized, the

lower end of its corresponding wire is drivenagainst a portion of ribbon8 which is disposed between the .lower ends of the wires and the surfaceof medium 2 to thereby leave an ink dot imprint upon medium 2. Suchaction of wire W7 in printing the single dot of the first column (E15)for the start of the symbol A is shown in FIGS. 2a and 3. By drivingselected combinations of wires W1 to W7 five times in succession, acharacter can be composed within a 5 X 7 ink dot matrix as shown in FIG.3. That is, the U is printed by W1-W7 dot selection as columns El-ES arepassed while the F is formed while passing columns E8- E12. A typicalwire matrix print head which could be adapted for use in this inventionis shown in US. Pat. No. 3,108,534 issued on Oct. 28, 1963, toPreisinger. It should be understood, however, that ink-spray, needlepunches and other types of printing means than the illustrated wirematrix print head can be adapted for use in the present invention.

In this embodiment, the control means comprises sensing means, in theform of roller 5b, for sensing displacement of printer P over thesurface of medium 2, and emitter means responsive to the sensing means5b for generating enabling signals timed in synchronism withpredetermined displacements of the printer P over the surface of themedium 2. In this illustration, the emitter means comprises an aperturedrotatable disk 10 driven by roller 5b via a suitable drive'linkage 11, alight source 12 (powered by power supply 23) positioned to transmitlight through each disk aperture in turn, and a photoelectric device 13positioned for exposure to light passing through each aperture in turn.On exposure to such light signals, photoelectric device 13 (e.g. aphotocell) generates timing pulses or enabling signals El, E2, E15 whichare transmitted to remote signal source S via lines 14 of cable C.

FIG. 2 shows one exemplary well known arrangement of remote signalsource S in simplified blockschematic'form to show how it is actuated byenabling signals E,, E to transmit print command signals to the coils'ofprinting means 7. The illustrated structure of source 5 includes onlythose components necessary to cooperate with the illustrated preferredembodiment of thisinvention. A more detailed exposition of such a priorart remote signal source may be found in an International BusinessMachines Corporation publication entitled 5213 Printer Models l, 2 and3, Theory- Maintenance Form Number SY 24-3549-0. A bidirectional controlarrangement which permits both leftto-right and right-to-left printingby modifying the order of retrieval of print command signal data fromCPU storage relating to the particular character sequence so that thecompleted line will read properly even though printed backwards(right-to-left) is taught by J. H. McCarthy, Jr. in thepreviouslyreferenced application Ser. No. 84,026. The manner ofgenerating sequential print command signals for a typicalprocessor-controlled printer via an ROS (read-only store) is shown inIBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin of July, 1970 (V0. 13, No. 2) at pages343-344 in the article entitled, Read Only Storage Computer Code to DotMatrix Translator, by Onwiler et a].

To print a character such as F (as shown in FIG. 3), bits in computercode defining the character are transmitted from storage in centralprocessing unit CPU 16 and are stored in register REG 15, where thesebits form part of the address for that character in read-only store ROS17; the address of that character within ROS 17 is completed by counter18, which is reset on loading of REG 15. As noted hereinabove, on movingprinter P over medium 2, enabling signals E1, E2,

are generated in synchronism with predetermined displacements (e.g. onefifth of character width) of printr P over the surface of medium 2. Whenlogic 19 has enabled CTR 18, the next enabling signal E8 which isreceived from the control means of printer P will result in incrementingof counter 18 so that the address for ROS 17 formed by the combinationof register 15 and counter 18 will be translated by ROS 17 into printcommand signal code for the first column of character F, therebyselecting all seven output lines 20 for energization. After andappropriate but brief delay to allow the signals on lines 20 to settle,this same enabling signal E8 will open gates 21 (which may compriseseven parallel AND gates each having an input commoned to line 14) topermit amplification by drivers 22 of the signals on lines 20 to thelevel required for driving wires W1 W7 by their associated coils. Whenthe next enabling signal E9 is generated upon a predetermineddisplacement of printer P to the right, the counter 18 is in crementedto complete the ROS address for the second column of character F,whereby ROS 17 selects the first and fourth lines 20 for energization;after gating and amplification, wires W1 and W4 of printing means 7 willbe fired to form two printed dots in the second column (E9) forcharacter F (see FIG. 3). Similarly, the E10 enabling signal causesenergization of only two of lines 20 when printer P has been moved tothe next column print location, whereupon the corresponding two wires(again W1 and W4) of printing means 7 will immediately print two dots inthe third column of the F being printed. This sequence continues untilcounter 18 has been incremented five times (for 5 X 7 matrix printing),which logic 19 interprets as the end of printing of character F andtherefore orders CPU 16 to reload register 15 with the next characterbyte in computer code. Logic 19 also delays resetting of counter 18 toprovide the desired inter-character spacing by controlling the resettingof counter 18 (e.g. until two more enabling pulses such as E6, E7 orE13, E14 are received by logic 19).

It will be understood that the foregoing is merely exemplary of anembodiment where a seven-wire matrix head is used with an inking ribbonS as a printing means 7 for 5 X 7 matrix dot printing. If, for example,a 35- wire printing means is used to print an entire character at atime, then ROS 17 should have 35 output lines 20, and since register 15would then provide the full ROS address for a character, counter 18 needonly be a onebit counter (if 1 then full character print, if 0 theninter-character spacing); of course, the angular spacing of apertures indisc 10 would correspond to character spacing rather than column spacing(e.g. one-fifth of a character width). As will be readily apparent tothose skilled in the art, the arrangement may also be appropriatelymodified where pneumatically driven, inkspray, xerographic,thermographic, or the like printing means are to be employed in ahand-positionable printer in accordance with this invention. Forexample, where a pneumatically actuated printing means is used, thinfluid supply lines may be led via cable C from valves located at remotesignal source S to a housing 3 having a suitable printing means of wiresactuated by fluid pressure print command signals.

FIG. 4 shows another view of the components within housing 3 includingdetail of one form of drive gear arrangement. Rotation of lead roller 5brotates gears 11a and 11b and thus bevel gears 25 and 26 to actuaterollers 24a and 24b thus moving ink ribbon 8. Note that ribbon 8 couldbe an endless loop arrangement or could be transferred from reel toreel. Further, electrical or mechanical means could be included todisengage the drive for ribbon 8 when printing is not being performed.This disengaging means could be associated with switch 4 if desired. Foran endless loop ribbon 8, the disengaging may not be needed at all.

Roller 6 can include detent slots 6a as shown in FIG. 4a to indicatevertical spacing between lines. Follower roller a is shown slotted inFIG. 4 to prevent smearing of the symbols by roller 5a as housing 3. ismoved from left to right. If bidirectional printing is to be performedfor which the aforementioned McCarthy application Ser. No. 84,026 couldbe readily adapted, a slot similar to. that in roller 5a could beincluded in roller 5b and a sensing device would be included forindicating direction of movement.

While the invention has been particularly described and shown relativeto the foregoing embodiment, it will be understood by those havingnormal skill in the art that various changes and modifications can bemade therein without departing from the spirit of this invention. 4

What is claimed is:

l. A hand motivated printer for printing symbols upon a surface of arecording medium comprising:

a. a manually manipulatable housing for permitting relative motionbetween said housing and said medium, I

b. printing means carried by said housing,

c. a signal source coupled for introducing print command signals to saidprinting means,

d. a roller means carried by said housing for frictionally engaging saidmedium, and

Y e. emitter means responsive to said roller means for generatingenablng signals timed in synchronism with-predetermined displacements ofsaid printer over the surface of said medium, said enabling sigxnalsbeing transmitted for enabling said signal source, said emitter meansincluding:

i. a rotatable disk having apertures therein, said disk being driven bysaid roller,

ii. a light source positioned to transmit light through each of saidapertures sequentially during rotation of said disc, and

iii. a photoelectric device positioned for exposure to light passingthrough said apertures for generating said enabling signals on exposureto said light.

2. A manually motivated printer for printing symbols upon a surface of arecording medium in accordance with sequences of print command signalsfrom a signal source comprising a print head responsive to said printcommands for impressing a matrix of print elements upon said medium intocharacters representing said symbols,

a manually manipulatable housing for permitting relative motion betweensaid housing and said medium, said print head being'carried by saidhousing, roller means carried by said housing for frictionally engagingsaid medium,

an emitter device coupled to saidroller means for generating signalsindicative of relative motion between said housing and said medium,

means for coupling saidemitter device signals-t0 said signal source forcontrolling the generation of said print command signals incorrelationwith said relative motion, and

means for coupling said controlled print command signals to said printhead.

3. A printer in accordance with claim 2 wherein said means for couplingsaid emitter device signals further includes switching means forselectively preventing coupling of said sensing means'signals wheneverprinting is not to be performed. I

4. A printer in accordance with claim 3 wherein said switching means ismounted on said housing for manual operation.

1. A hand motivated printer for printing symbols upon a surface of arecording medium comprising: a. a manually manipulatable housing forpermitting relative motion between said housing and said medium, b.printing means carried by said housing, c. a signal source coupled forintroducing print command signals to said printing means, d. a rollermeans carried by said housing for frictionally engaging said medium, ande. emitter means responsive to said roller means for generating enablingsignals timed in synchronism with predetermined displacements of saidprinter over the surface of said medium, said enabling signals beingtransmitted for enabling said signal source, said emitter meansincluding: i. a rotatable disk having apertures therein, said disk beingdriven by said roller, ii. a light source pOsitioned to transmit lightthrough each of said apertures sequentially during rotation of saiddisc, and iii. a photoelectric device positioned for exposure to lightpassing through said apertures for generating said enabling signals onexposure to said light.
 2. A manually motivated printer for printingsymbols upon a surface of a recording medium in accordance withsequences of print command signals from a signal source comprising aprint head responsive to said print commands for impressing a matrix ofprint elements upon said medium into characters representing saidsymbols, a manually manipulatable housing for permitting relative motionbetween said housing and said medium, said print head being carried bysaid housing, roller means carried by said housing for frictionallyengaging said medium, an emitter device coupled to said roller means forgenerating signals indicative of relative motion between said housingand said medium, means for coupling said emitter device signals to saidsignal source for controlling the generation of said print commandsignals in correlation with said relative motion, and means for couplingsaid controlled print command signals to said print head.
 3. A printerin accordance with claim 2 wherein said means for coupling said emitterdevice signals further includes switching means for selectivelypreventing coupling of said sensing means signals whenever printing isnot to be performed.
 4. A printer in accordance with claim 3 whereinsaid switching means is mounted on said housing for manual operation.